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mkh 40 humidity?

Subject: mkh 40 humidity?
From: "Scott Fraser" scottbfraser
Date: Mon Dec 7, 2009 7:54 am ((PST))
<<I was recording yesterday night an ambience with a sennheiser 40/30
pair and sound devices, when suddently the cardioid started to make
this noise:
http://homepage.mac.com/coeval/filechute/40humidity%3f.mp3
I was in Madrid - 21:00h - 8=BAC / +-85% relative humidity.
The thing is that one hour later at home the noise started to
disapear, and today i=B4m using the mic in the studio with no problem
at all.
Have you ever listened to an mkh making this kind of noise?... it
sounds to you as an humidity problem?. >>

It doesn't sound like a humidity problem to me. High humidity causes
the polarizing voltage to arc between the front & back plates of a
condenser mic. This results in a pop every time the plates short.
Could be several per minute or could be  constant with several pops
per second. I haven't heard it on a Sennheiser, but I don't think it
would be different than the popping I've heard on Neumanns & AKGs when
subjected to humidity. What I'm hearing sounds more like a failing
active device, either a transistor or chip. I would have the mic
serviced, & give the repair shop a recording of the noise. They should
be able to identify the problem from that alone.

Scott Fraser








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